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Real-Time Computer-Based Translation in Iraq
[TheBORG] writes "The U.S. military has been testing software on laptops that translate English to Arabic and Arabic to English to have conversations with Iraqis without the need to have a Arabic linguist on hand. 'This year the military's Joint Forces Command has been testing laptops with such software in Iraq. When someone speaks into a microphone attached to the computer, the machine translates it into Arabic and reads that translation aloud over the PC's speakers. The software then translates the Arabic speaker's response and utters it in English.'" (See this related story from last year about this daunting machine-translation task.)
With some luck it will translate my banal whining into cutting social commentary.
From the article:
Given that "Al Qaeda" is Arabic for "The Base", and machine translation is notorious for its poor grasp of grammatical structure and homonyms, are soldiers going to have to deal with outputs like "AL YOUR QAEDA ARE BELONG TO US"?
...It is not before one hapless American, searching for the nearest terrorist, blurts out to a startled passerby "Please fondle my buttocks"
Why don't the iraqis just use subtitles?
#include
int main(int args, char **argv)
{
for(;;)
printf("%s\n", "dirka dirka jihad jihad");
}
"The Americans say they can wreck a nice beach... is that some kind of threat?"
.evom ton seod gis eht
Or another that translated "Out of sight, out of mind" into "invisible, idiot".
Soldier: Surrender now, we have you surrounded.
Computer: #All your base are belong to us#
Iraqis: [hysterical laughter]
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Such a device would only need a hand-full of phrases to handle 99% of all use:
* "I am a Canadian, not an American, so don't kill me."
* "I voted for Kerry"
* "Run!"
* "Oh Shit!"
* "I don't care how big her tits are, YOU frisk her this time."
* "Cut and run? sounds like a great idea right now."
* "Quick, help me find my lower intestine!"
Table-ized A.I.
So how do you translate "DO NOT RUN WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS" into Arabic?
Oh wait, that's already in English...
Oh please. Bleu Copas was by no means "flaming". Skeptical? See if you can "tell" if you didn't know to "ask" when you check out The Daily Show's hilarious take on the incident. Since anti-gay conservatives are as desirous of pragmatic thinking as they are 16 year old boys, let me ask you this: What do you think is more important, the safety of U.S. troops or the fact that the straight-acting man who is interpreting their words prefers men?
* I would paste the google translated Arabic, but for some reason
Orationem pulchram non habens, scribo ista linea in lingua Latina
Colorless green dreams sleep furiously.
"My hovercraft is full of eels"
:(
and then poked me with the electric cattle prod again.
I'd tell him what he wants to know, if only I could understand the question.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
Thank goodness nobody said Universal Translator yet
I remember a news report of US soldiers going door-to-door shaking down a "hostile" Iraqi town. My favorite moment was the first grunt through the door yelling, "Yimshi! Yimshi! Get down! Get down!" as he threw a confused Iraqi to the floor.
I know enough Arabic to know Yimshi means "Walk," or "Leave/Get out of here."
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.